Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 211 "The Two-Part Series on the Resistance Against the British in Tibet"

Zhu Lin listened quietly to Shi Lan's recitation. Her voice was neither too loud nor too soft, but since the room was full of people, everyone's attention was drawn to Shi Lan.

After he finished reading, everyone around him applauded.

Before Zhu Lin could speak, someone next to her asked, "Little girl, who wrote this poem?"

Shi Lan said proudly, "My brother Yimin!"

Seeing her like this, Liu Yimin, Shi Tiesheng, and the other two were at a loss for words. Shi Tiesheng told Shi Lan to be careful and turned around to say, "Excuse me, comrades, I'm sorry to disturb your meal!"

Several customers nearby gathered around with smiles: "Was this written by Comrade Liu Yimin?"

After searching around the table, he finally fixed his gaze on Liu Yimin: "Comrade Liu Yimin? It really is you! I've seen your picture before. Hey, comrades, this is Comrade Liu Yimin!"

Liu Yimin made a shushing gesture at him, but it was too late. A crowd of people gathered around, greeting Liu Yimin all at once.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, did you write the poem just now?"

After Liu Yimin nodded in acknowledgment, the other party asked, "Where was this published? I've never heard of it before?"

"It hasn't been published yet, but I estimate it will appear in 'Stars' magazine soon, provided that 'Stars' accepts the manuscript!"

"How could your poem not be accepted by Stars? Then we'll just have to wait for the next few issues of Stars. You write so well, it reminds me of my youth."

"Yes, it reminds me of my youth. When I was little, our country had just been founded. When I got a little older, my dad went to support the Third Front! Thinking back, life used to go by so slowly. Now, it's over in the blink of an eye, and in another blink, half a lifetime will have passed and I'll be in my grave!"

Someone sighed.

"As Lu Xun said, time is like water in a sponge; you can squeeze some out. But in a few more years, forget about squeezing it out; you'll be buried in the yellow earth!"

"Think back to when we were kids, we were even poorer than we are now. We wore clothes that exposed our bottoms, and in the dead of winter, our skin would turn red from the cold. We would run around in the alleyway, laughing like idiots. We called the kids in the courtyard brothers, and I even imitated the sworn brotherhood in the movies, saying that we would be brothers for life."

When we were talking, everyone thought we'd be brothers for life, but actually, sigh, who has that many brothers from their youth anymore!

More and more sighs came out, some people talked about how they used to fall for the girl next door, and others talked about the hard times.

A perfectly good restaurant has been turned into a "bitter memories and sweet memories" event.

Liu Yimin stood up and urged everyone to eat properly and cherish the food they had. His enthusiasm had barely subsided when, every now and then, a waiter would come over and hand them a dish, saying it was a gift from a comrade.

When asked who sent it, the answer was Comrade Lei F!

On the table for four, seven or eight more dishes appeared in no time. Liu Yimin had to get up again and tell everyone not to send any more, otherwise it would be a waste of food if they couldn't finish it. Only then did no one send any more.

However, several bottles of soda were brought out, but fortunately they were unopened, so the group could take them with them.

Liu Yimin ran to the restaurant's front desk and told them not to serve any more food.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, if everyone insists on ordering, we can't refuse, right?"

“If you guys are going to do this, you’ll be accomplices to waste, do you know that? The country is calling for frugality, and you still dare to do this? I think your manager doesn’t want to work anymore!”

They finally had a proper meal. Zhu Lin wasn't going on stage that evening, so they could eat to their hearts' content. Shi Lan ate with gusto, her mouth greasy, and it took the four of them a lot of effort to finish everything on the table.

As they were about to leave, Shi Lan said, "Brother Yimin, let's rest a bit before we go. We've eaten too much; we can't push the wheelchair anymore."

A group of people laughed, and after a long while, Shi Lan finally pushed Shi Tiesheng away.

Liu Yimin accompanied Zhu Lin back to the Beijing People's Art Theatre. Zhu Lin said, "Comrade Shi Tiesheng is really amazing, and Shi Lan is also quite good. That girl is clever and witty. If it weren't for her, Comrade Shi Tiesheng definitely wouldn't have come out."

Liu Yimin said, "This is family love!"

Liu Yimin told Zhu Lin that he had sent her photos back, and Zhu Lin said worriedly, "I wonder if your parents will look down on me?"

Liu Yimin pretended to scrutinize Zhu Lin: "How could you have such a thought? I reckon my parents will be so happy after seeing the photos that they won't be able to sleep for days."

"That's good, that's good!" Zhu Lin said quickly, then added, "It's not good to not be able to sleep!"

"Teacher Liu, your poem has probably brought tears to many people's eyes. To be honest, when I think about things before I was twenty, it feels like it was just a short time ago, but when I think about it, it was several years ago!"

The better the past was, the more painful it is to think about it now!

Liu Yimin said in a low voice, "What? Isn't it good now?"

Zhu Lin gently pushed him away with a slightly cheeky expression, but still bit her lip and said, "Wonderful!"

"Hey hey hey..."

Amidst Liu Yimin's laughter, Zhu Lin rode away on her bicycle. Liu Yimin called out to her from afar, "Be careful!"

Yang Lixin suddenly appeared from somewhere: "Comrade Yimin, what does love taste like?"

Liu Yimin glanced at him: "Why aren't you getting ready to go on stage? What are you doing squatting here?"

"Hey, I was just out for a stroll and happened to see her. What do you think I should do to pursue this girl?" Yang Lixin asked humbly.

"Chase? I can't teach you that!"

Yang Lixin's family was relatively poor. One of the main reasons he went to the Beijing People's Art Theatre was that it paid him a salary. He lost his father at a young age and used his salary to treat his brother's illness, but his brother did not recover.

She got married in 84 and had a good relationship with Xu Fan. She supported Xu Fan for more than three years after marriage, which was later rumored to be related to an affair.

Later, Yang Lixin personally refuted the rumors, saying that he had "four ones" in his life: "one wife, one son, one workplace, and acting for a lifetime."

Liu Yimin felt that although the social atmosphere had changed since 1987, people still wouldn't dare to have casual relationships with men without telling others.

Under Yang Lixin's puzzled gaze, Liu Yimin left the Beijing People's Art Theatre. He scratched his neck helplessly, thinking that Liu Yimin was unwilling to teach him, but in reality, he really couldn't teach him.

Before leaving, Liu Yimin earnestly gave him a few words of advice: his salary wasn't much, so he should save it for himself and his family, and not waste his money chasing girls. He suggested that with that money, he could buy himself a pound of White Rabbit milk candy to sweeten his mouth.

After parting ways with Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin, Shi Tiesheng's spirits visibly dampened. Upon returning to the courtyard house in Yonghe Temple, Shi Tiesheng greeted his father, then vigorously rolled his wheelchair back to his room and bolted the door shut.

Mr. Shi asked Shi Lan with a puzzled look what they had been doing that day. Shi Lan then told Mr. Shi about their afternoon itinerary.

Father Shi smiled and said, "Making new friends is a good thing. But your brother doesn't seem very happy. What happened?"

"Dad, I don't know either. I was fine when I came back. Brother Yimin and Sister Zhulin treated us to a meal, and I ate until I was stuffed."

Father Shi asked Shi Lan to explain the matter to him in detail. After listening to the poem, Father Shi immediately understood. He let Shi Lan into the house and sat on the steps in the courtyard, looking up at the newly risen moon.

After a sigh, longing and sorrow lingered throughout the courtyard.

Shi Tiesheng sat in his wheelchair, hiding his body in the darkness, with moonlight streaming through the window and falling at his feet.

Looking at the moon, I silently recited "The Past Was Slow" in my heart, and tears involuntarily streamed down my cheeks. Finally, I broke down in tears.

Afraid of being overheard by her sister and father, she buried her head deep under the covers again.

Thinking of his mother's tolerance towards him when she was alive, and her sighs at night, his heart ached as if it were being torn apart.

He desperately wanted to tell his mother that he had become a writer, but unfortunately, she couldn't hear him now.

He recalled how desperately he sought help when his mother had the accident. For the first time, he felt that Beijing was as vast as the ocean, and he felt like a drowning person, unable to grasp at any straw.

Later, he finally realized that if he lost his mother and broke the glass again, she would no longer come to clean it up for him.
The next day, Shi Tiesheng woke up and looked at himself lying in bed. He had forgotten how he got into bed the night before.

Shi's father pushed open the door and came in, looking at Shi Tiesheng, whose eyes were red-rimmed, and said, "Eldest son, get up and eat!"

As the chill deepened, Liu Yimin formally submitted his second script, "Red River Valley," to the Beijing People's Art Theatre.

This script is an adaptation of the original script, but the changes are not significant; the romantic scenes between the male and female leads have been reduced somewhat.

It mainly depicts the touching story of Han and Tibetan people joining hands to fight against aggression, praising the two ethnic groups for joining hands to deal with national crisis and resist foreign aggression when facing foreign invasion, and satirizing the dirty face of so-called "civilization envoys".

Liu Yimin handed the script to Cao Yu, who looked at him and said, "You must be very busy these days. It must have been hard on you to keep up with the pace so quickly."

“This is what I should do. If we want to perform on stage next May, every day the script is delayed, the comrades at the Beijing People’s Art Theatre have to move up their rehearsals by a day. I can’t bear the responsibility if the script slows down the progress!” Liu Yimin said with a smile.

“It’s good that you have this awareness. Time is very tight. A script needs three months to rehearse. Now, ‘Mountains High and Rivers Long’ is just starting to get going. I asked Shan Zun to speed up the process, but Shan Zun is also in a dilemma.”

The actors have been working so hard, some of them have even lost their voices! Cao Yu said, feeling a little sorry for them.

Liu Yimin said, "Please take a look and see if there's anything that needs to be changed. I'll modify it right away!"

Cao Yu said, "Not only do I want to see it, but after I finish reading it, I'll let the three of them, including Shan Zun, take a look as well, and polish the second script first."

After a while, Ouyang Shanzun and the other two also came in. They all wanted to see the script, but unfortunately, the script was in Cao Yu's hands.

The three people withdrew their tentative hands after Cao Yu glared at them.

Lan Tianye put his arm around Liu Yimin's shoulder and said, "Yimin, tell me about it!"

“Our People’s Art Theatre should cultivate a group of screenwriters like Yi Min, who write quickly and well. Look at those in the editorial department, sigh, it takes them longer to write a single book than to give birth!” Ouyang Shanzun said casually.

Cao Yu took a sip of tea, looked up at Ouyang Shanzun, and slowly said, "Then if I write a script, wouldn't that mean that Shakyamuni's wife is pregnant for even longer!"

Upon hearing this, Su Min and Lan Tianye both smiled without saying a word.

Ouyang Shanzun laughed to ease the awkwardness: "Old Wan, how can you say that? The script for 'Wang Zhaojun' took one or two decades to write. It's not your problem, it's the problem of the times. It was interrupted for ten years!"

"Now that you mention it, it's even longer than the pregnancy of Buddha's wife—ten or twenty years! Legend has it that it took Lao Tzu over eighty years to be born!"

Buddhist scriptures record that Shakyamuni had a child before he renounced the world; his wife, Princess Yashodhara, was pregnant for six years.

Legend has it that Li Er's mother was pregnant for eighty-one years before giving birth to him, enduring the pregnancy from her teens until she was a hundred years old.

After chatting and laughing for a while, Ouyang Shanzun said seriously, "As for who should direct the second part, my suggestion is to choose a different director and actors, so that we can work on both at the same time and catch up with the schedule!"

Su Min said, "We need to select other actors. There are many overlapping actors in the two plays, which will make rehearsals difficult!"

Lan Tianye also shared his opinion.

Cao Yu tapped the table lightly with his hand and said, "I came here to let everyone see the script. I think the director should still use the three of you. After all, the style is consistent. If the director is changed, the style will definitely be different. If the two plays are staged in completely different styles, it will be a huge embarrassment!"

"Then when?" Ouyang Shanzun asked.

"Time is tight, but comrades, let's work hard and try to finish both scripts by around March. The actors participating in the rehearsals should not be scheduled for other performances; let the understudies take over," Cao Yu said.

“The actors who don’t go on stage won’t receive subsidies, so they’re definitely unhappy about it.”

For each performance, an actor from the Beijing People's Art Theatre receives a subsidy of 50 cents. For actors like Yang Lixin, whose starting salary was only 18 yuan, the subsidy was very important. Not performing for several months would affect their livelihood.

Cao Yu made the decision: "We'll provide a subsidy for each rehearsal, just like for each performance. We'll also provide a subsidy for evening rehearsals. Don't worry about the funding; the Ministry of Culture has already agreed to cover a portion. With enough subsidies, this 'Two-Part Tibetan Anti-British Trilogy' must be successfully staged."

Tell the actors directly that their subsidies are the highest in the entire crew, and if they don't perform well, they'll be replaced! That's the basic framework; you can coordinate the rest yourselves.

"Shan Zun, you're the vice dean, you should put in more effort to coordinate things!"

Ouyang Shanzun, Lan Tianye, and Su Min nodded heavily, all feeling a great weight on their shoulders.

"As for this script, let's pass it around and let Yimin revise it carefully, so that we can make as few changes as possible during rehearsals."

After Cao Yu finished speaking, the four of them took turns reading the draft. Each of them held a pencil for revising, and they would raise any points they were unsure about on the spot for discussion, making it surprisingly efficient.

(End of this chapter)